Improvement in the construction of water-wheels



NITED STATES PATENT J OHh.T L. SMITH, OF SALINA, NEIV YORK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2,383, dated December10, 1841.

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. SMITH, of the village of Salina, in thecounty of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement on a W'ater-VVheel and in the Construction of the Trunk andTunnel Through which the Tater is Applied to the IVheels, whichimprovement I call Smiths Improved Patent-Action Vater-Wheelg and Ihereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the improvement and of the operation of the same, andalso clearly and exactly specifies what I claim as my own originalinvention and discovery, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is an externalperspective View of the'the machine when put up and ready for operation,exhibiting the connection of the wheels with the trunk. Fig. 2represents the lower section of the trunk and gives a View of theinterior construction thereof. Fig. 3 represents the upper or outersection of the trunk and gives a View of the interior constructionthereof. Fig. 4 represents the core or Vhub of the wheel, through whichthe shaft passes, and one of the buckets attached thereto; Fig. 5, aside view, the wheel being Fig. l is particularly explained as follows:Letters A represent the exterior of the upper section of the trunk ofthe front surface thereof; letter B, the upper surface of Y which thescroll is formed and into which the water passes before falling upon thewheels. The trunk is composed of four pieces of timber, two of whichframed together form one of its sections, out of which the tunnel andchamber or conductor are excavated or cut.

- The size of the timbers will depend entirely upon the column of waterto be used, and the sections, if necessary, may also be framed fromthree or more timbers. Letters E represent the surface or periphery ofthe wheels; letters e, the exterior or scalloped edge, and h thebuckets. The whole wheel is to be made of cast-iron, together with thebuckets and cove, and cast entire,the size of the wheel varying with thehead and volume of water designed to be used. The drawing represents iton a scale of about one-eighth of an inch to an inch, thesize of a wheelto be used with a head of eight feet water. Letters I-I on the darkgrounds between the buckets b represent the depression or recess of thebuckets as they appear from an external View of the wheels. Letters Frepresent the shaft passing through the cores of the wheels, and isdesigned to be of solid cast-iron and should be cast with shouldersterminating at the inner edge of the coves, so as to prevent the wheelsfrom coming in contact with the trunk. The wheels are to be keyed uponthe shaft in any of the usual modes. Letters f represent the bearing ofthe shaft resting on pillowblocks G, on which the shaft revolves.Letters d represent the arm or crank to which the machinery to be workedis connected by a pitman. The shaft should always be of suflicientlength to leave a space of at least twelve inches between the wheels andthe pillow-blocks for the free escape of the water. Letter 7?,represents an iron hook, by means of which the two sections are fastenedtogether with staples. They may, however, be fastened together' in anyconvenient manner.

Fig. 2 represents the lower section of the trunk, and is particularlydescribed as follows: Letters A represent the mouth of the trunk,represented by letterD in Fig. l. Fig. 2 is projected horizontally,exposing the interior construction of the lower or interior section ofthe trunk. The tunnel A is excavated from the timbers forming the loweror interior section. Letters J represent a raised projection or tonguerunning through the solid part of the trunk at the line t' t' whenunited, being raised from an inch to an inch and a half above the planeB, and being about two inches wide, thus giving greater strength to therim of the tunnel, and by means of a corresponding groove in the uppersection, (marked J, Fig. 3,) into which the said tongue passes, holdsthe two sections of the trunk more iirmly together. Letter O is anotherplane surface, being on the same line and angle with plane B, and of adiminished width in consequence of the cuttings made to form the spiralconductors hereinafter described, and through which the water operatingon the machinery is thrown. Letters H represent the convex surfaces orswelling portions of a portion of the body-timbers of the trunk,fromwhich portion the spiral con; d uctor is formed. Letters H form theupper parts or termination of said spiral conductors or chambers, thechambers or cavities represented by letter I on the dark ground beingnarrowed down and diminished in width by the convex surfaces H. Lettersa are pins of wood or dowels rising two or three inches above and atright angles to the planes c and a and entering into correspondlingcavities at letters a in Fig. 3. Letter D represents a portion of acylindrical cavity cut through the center of the Whole trunk on the lineit' in Fig. l, for the passage of the shaft of the Wheels marked P inFig. l. This section `will always vary in its diameter with the diameterof the shaft which turns therein. Letters L represent the termination ofthe loiver part of the tunnel, which is very slightly con` tractedbetween the points A and L, and the colu mn of water passing intothetunnel atA falls unbroken until it reaches the point L, where it isthere divided bythe diminished end or termination of the spiral cove inthe chamber, which termination is described as follows: Letter frepresents a part of the cylindrical section cut through the trunkforthe passage of the shaft, and this section is concentric with thecircle formed by the periphery of the wheels and with the circularchainber which has a radius equal to the radius of the circle describedby the end of the buckets. The elevation of this section f above the bedof the circular chamber on the scale of projection one-eighth of an inchto an inch is The letter F represents the same elevation of the sectionand forms withl eight inches.

f a projection of the end of the wedge or core of the body-timbers. Thiscore or wedge eX- tends from the section cut for the body of the shaftto the bed of the cylindrical chamber or spiral chamber and increases inthickness in the precise proportion in which the width of the chamber isdiminished. This spiral cove extends from F, Fig. 2, to F in Fig. et,increasing in width, as represented by letters H and by the cylindricalsection D, corresponding to section D in Fig. No. 2, and having itsgreatest Width at c, Fig. No. 3. From c, Fig. 3, this wedge is continuedto section c, Fig. 2, and terminates at f and L on that figure. LettersE and M represent the bed of the chambers through which the waterpasses. Letters G represent the lower part of the timbers of the trunk.

In Fig. 3 letters G represent the bottom or lower portion of the timbersof the trunk corresponding to letters G in Fig. 2. a represents theapertures or cavities corresponding to the pins a in Fig. 2. Letters Mrepresent the bed of the spiral chamber or conductor of the Water. Erepresents the same chamber continued to I in same ligure. G representsa part of the timbers of the trunk, corresponding with c in Fig. 2. .Iis the groove corresponding to the tongue .I in Fig. 2. B is a part ofthe trunk-timbers corresponding to B in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 4, letters A represent the periphery of the cove of the wheel F,the exterior edge of the cove H, the passage for the shaft B, a part ofthe bucket attached to the cove of the wheel, and the plane of such partB forming an angle of one hundred and fifteen or.one hundred and twentydegress with the flange c of the bucket. c represents the flange of thebucket from the cove to the periphery or edge. D G represents theexternal edge of the bucket and flange, over which the rim of the wheelpasses. The number oi buckets attached to the wheel depends entirelyupon the size of the Wheel, a wheel of two feet diameter requiring eightbuckets, and thepart represented by B should never be over sixteen orseventeen inches in width at the rim of the wheel. The thickness of thecove and of the buckets depends also upon the size of the wheels,varying also in width according to the Width of the Wheel. The column ofWater passing into the tunnel D passes un broken to the point f, atwhich point it is divided by the spiral cove H and thrown into contactwith the planes of the flanges of the buckets running in right linesacross the inner rim of the wheels, as represented in Fig. 4, and itsegress is prevented by the said flange of the bucket till the wheelrevolves the width of the flanges B, When it passes off over theinclined plane of the bucket B through the passages H. The passage ofthe water is from the points L through the chambers E to M, thencethrough M to E andI, and from thence through I, at which parts itescapes, as above described, at H, the pressure of the Water continuallyincreasing from the point of the scroll, or at f to I, by thediminishing size of the spiral chambers or conductors. By dividing thewater at the point f near or below the line of the center of the shaft,instead of at a point near the mouth of the tunnel, nearly all air andgas are prevented from entering with the water, the power of which isthus unbroken until it reaches the point Where it is applied.

The wheel is made of cast-iron in one piece, as before stated, and isfixed to a horizontal shaft and turns with it vertically. It resemblestwo concentric cylinders of different diameters, the inner one, beingmuch smaller `than the outer one, having inclined plane buckets withflanges placed around in the space between said cylinders, so as not tolap over each other, as in many wheels, and arranged `so as to leavespaces or issues between said buckets sufficiently large for the waterto escape after having acted upon them. The inner cylinder forms what isusually termed the hub and is slipped on the horizontal shaft, and isfixed permanently thereto. The

other cylinder corresponds Wit-l1 that part of a Water-Wheel which istermed the rim, and is notched or cut away on the outer edge in themanner of the crown or balance Wheel of a clock, so as to enlarge theoutlets for the escape of the Water. The buckets are inclined planesWider at one end than at the other, the small end being on the peripheryof the hub and the Wider end against the ir1- side of the rim extendingalong the sloped side of the notch, and the ange being on a lineradiating from the hub to the rim and the shaft and extending from theangle of the notches to the inner edge of the rim, the casting of theWheel at the angle or junction of the bucket or iiange being thickerthan in any other part of the bucket. In the arrangement here describedthere are two Wheels constructed alike and fixed to the same shaft faceto face on each side of the trunk with the inlets to the Wheels placedagainst the side openings or outlets of the trunk or scrolls. The Wateris admitted into the trunk at D, and is divided by the thin edge orpoint of the scroll at the point f, so as to direct the Water laterallyand horizontally to the right and left into both Wheels simultaneously,on

which it acts by first striking against the iianges, and then byescaping over the snrfaces of the inclined planes of the buckets,turning the Wheels around in a contrary direction to the escape of theWater.

By means of dividing the trunk into sections in the manner beforedescribed by a line forming an angle of forty-iive degrees With thehorizon and constructing the tunnel entirely in the lower or interiorsection the upper section can be removed for repairs or to removeobstructions Without interfering in any Way With the ume, and with lesshelp and delay than if constructed in any other manner.

What I claim as myinvention, and which I desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

The mode of constructing the bucket as set forth-namely, by forming itwith a flange on the inner face of the Wheel extending from the hub orcenter to the circular scalloped rim and attaching its outer edge to thesaid scalloped rim, all as before described.

JGHN L. SMlTH.

Witnesses:

H. Lv MEADE, Y GEORGE ROGERS. n

